Perfection Without The Bottle
by Dannie Jo
Summary: "Alec stared at the mirror, wanting to punch it with every bit of strength he had...because he knew deep down in his heart, that he did not deserve Magnus." How far would Alec really go to feel as though he deserves love? POST-COFA


_Hey, thanks for reading. This is just an idea that popped in my mind while reading some other stories on here so I'm not exactly sure how it turned out, but here it is! _

_Disclaimer: I'm not Cassandra Clare, nor any way associated with Mortal Instruments _

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><p>-Perfection Without The Bottle-<p>

-A Magnus & Alec One Shot-

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><p>Alec stared at the mirror, wanting to punch it with every bit of strength he had. He wanted the man staring back at him to shatter in a million pieces so he could grout the shards of glass with the soles of his thick, Shadowhunter boots into the tile work of the bathroom.<p>

Camille's words were haunting him, following him everywhere until they were all he could hear. They were the loudest when he looked at Magnus. Beautiful, sensual, comical Magnus Bane: High Warlock of Brooklyn and his immortal boyfriend.

How, in the Angel's will, did that happen?

Alec just gripped the sink tighter, lowering his head as he refused to look back at that forsaken mirror.

He would smash it if he looked back at himself; he knew it, because he knew deep down in his heart, that he did not deserve Magnus. How could someone as worldly, intelligent, and all around perfect as the warlock truly love someone who only called Manhattan (and lately Brooklyn) and Idris his home, could only spit random facts about demonlogy, and was all around imperfect? Alec didn't get it, and he questioned it daily, but Magnus would only smile, kiss him, and whisper lies of how beautiful he was.

Alec hated himself for it. He and Magnus had been in a relationship for a good time, but even his boyfriend's confession that Alec would be the last love for him, Alec had doubts.

It was in the pit of pure despair and anger that he saw it, laying in plain view in front of him. They weren't hard to miss, for they took up nearly the entire bathroom shelving in a ray of a blinding mass of neon and sparkles. "These bottles are the epitome of my perfection, darling," Magnus' words echoed in his mind as he stared at them. Alec never believed him, knowing what the warlock looked like without the mundane made products masking his natural beauty. However, his boyfriend practically pledged his everlasting life to make-up and glam, so the young Adonis must have figured there must have been some truth to the whole matter.

Alec knew it then and there what he was going to do, and in blind desperation, reached over to pick up any one of the many random bottles.

{Perfection Without The Bottle. A Magnus & Alec One Shot. 30 Minutes Later}

It was a tiring day for the High Warlock of Brooklyn; there was a constant string of clients from ten in the morning till then, long past sunset. He wanted nothing more to do then get out of his constricting clothes and into his silky sleepwear, take off his make-up that was sticky due to sweating in the extreme heat, and curl up with his lover to spend a relaxing night in the sanction of his arms.

It was quite a struggle shuffling up the stairs, but the thought of what awaited him kept the warlock motivated and eventually he reached the door. As one of the most powerful warlocks in the system, Magnus was never deterred by basic mundane locks, but he could not manage a simple spark in a lock breaking spell, especially not as complex as his so other warlocks could not break into his apartment. Instead, he pulled out a key from his pocket, which he kept in case of such emergencies and stumbled to get the key into the lock. After a few attempts, the door gave a low click and the door popped open.

The lights were all on, as he expected, and the television was on at a low volume to some history documentary. Typical Alec, Magnus thought with a tiresome smile. But even with all the signs of life, he could not see his boyfriend anywhere. He frowned; normally, he was used seeing the nineteen year old Shadowhunter lounging on the couch with a large blanket cocooning his cold body. Alec would smile and shift his position around so Magnus could slid easily under the normally stiflingly hot blanket to hold him until he decided to get out of his work attire. Even only living with Alec for a little while, the Lightwood was no longer on as many hunts (since he was farther away from the Institute) and Magnus' cliental was slowly becoming more night based with the defeat of Lilith. Considering that, coming home to Alec and spending the rest of the night with him seemed all too normal. But where was the boy? His blanket was there, though thrown aside, and a bowl of buttered noodles left abandoned on the mahogany table. The deep wooden table was only one of the many characteristics that proved Magnus no longer lived alone.

Now on a hunt for his boyfriend, he threw down his coat and bag on the red chair and called out for him. He heard a noise coming from the bathroom, towards the back of the open loft.

"Alec?" He called out, as he walked back there, suddenly forgetting about how badly he just wanted to pass out from exhaustion as he heard what seemed to be a sniffle coming from the other side of the bathroom door. "Love, are you alright?"

More scuffling and the water started run at full force. Masked by the sound of the plummeting water on a marble basin, he heard Alec mutter incoherently.

"What did you say, dear? I can't hear you over the water!"

"I said, I'm fine!"

He surely didn't sound fine, causing a spark of fear to ignite inside of Magnus in the pit of his stomach. Acting quickly out of concern, he grasped the handle and breathed a sigh of relief when it began to turn. The last thing he needed was the door to be locked. Alec quickly turned around so the warlock couldn't see his face, and began to wipe his eyes with the sleeve of his black sweater.

"Alec?" Magnus approached slowly, careful to not upset the boy even more. He walked in until he was barely a foot away from Alec's turned back; close enough to notice how tense his shoulders were and low his head hung. He started to lift his hand to comfort him, but the Lightwood's words froze him, hand mid-air.

"Do you love me?"

Magnus jumped back slightly at how broken his partner's voice sounded, and at the question. He did not know how many times he told or showed Alec the answer, and the answer should've been programmed into his brain by then, burned like a branding on his mind.

"Of course I do," the warlock whispered, lowering his hand slowly as realization of what could have been going on washed over him. With a steady, deeper voice, he called out, "Alexander…"

The boy became a stammering mess, but never did he turn around. "I just- I just-I don't know, Magnus, okay? Just, just- go away? I'll- I'll be out in a minute. J-just give me a minute."

The boy's hands were clenched into tight fists that were turning his knuckles an unattractive white. Magnus was afraid that he was going to break his fingers, and reached over to grab one of is fists. Alec tensed up even more at the warlock's touch, but unclenched his hand at Magnus' caress.

"Face me, Alexander." His breath was hot against Alec's neck and earlobe. A gentle kiss was placed his base of his neck, by his shoulder. "Alec, look at me, please."

"I-I can't. Magnus, please, just give-"

"What's wrong, Alexander?" Magnus backed away from him, leaning back up against the bright green counter.

Alec breathed out a shaky sigh. "It's stupid."

"Not to me."

The immortal could have sworn he could hear the ticking of a grandfather's clock, but he hadn't owned one. There was a terrible silence as Magnus just stared at Alec's turned form and Alec couldn't raise his eyes away from the tile work. Eventually though, the boy seemed to convince himself to turn around, though kept his face obscured. Even still, Magnus knew exactly what happened. He knew the second he walked into the bathroom and his make up, expensive may he add, was spilt and thrown all around the counter, sink, flooring, and some even reaching the top of the toilet.

Magnus closed the distance between them in a matter of a blink of an eye, hand cupping his chin to finally bring up Alec's face. Alec still kept his eyes downcast, a blush radiating on his skin through the poorly applied foundation make up.

Globs of caramel toned foundation (far to dark for Alec's porcelain skin) were left barely rubbed in, and bright purple eye shadow was applied with a seemingly shaky, inexperienced hand. Eyeliner and mascara were clumped together and smeared all across his face. Sparkles were brushed on haphazardly on his skin, and his lips were a disastrous blue, the same shade of lipstick that Magnus wore the day they first met at the party.

Taking this all in, Alec's blush started to grow brighter, but Magnus couldn't help but to give a small, sad smile. Without letting go of the boy's chin, he reached over and grabbed a cotton ball, dipping it into the jar of liquid makeup remover.

"Close your eyes, Sweetheart," he whispered softly as he began to start the process of removing the color away from his boyfriend's face. He took care with the sensitive skin, being careful around the eyelashes, and supple lips. After a couple cotton balls and a damp washcloth later, Alec's face was back to it's normal, product-less skin, albeit a little red from being rubbed for a good ten minutes.

Magnus dropped the washcloth in the laundry bin and held the boy's clean face in both of his hands. Alec still didn't meet his eyes, and all the tired warlock wanted was to peer into the depths of those blues that he could read almost as well as a book. His thumb caressed those ivory cheeks, angling them up a bit so he could easily steal a kiss, but Alec's lips were cold and unmoving.

"Care to tell me what that was about?"

Alec broke away from him, and stepped back to look in the mirror. His cloudy eyes finally opened to stare at his reflection. It pained his partner to see the hatred lingering in those bright irises. Slowly, the demon hunter cleared his throat, and asked, "can we just forget about it? Can we just go to bed; I can tell how tired you are."

"I can wait a couple more minutes," he responded, pulling on Alec's hand to pull him away from the mirror and out of the bathroom. In the cold air of the hallway, Magnus pulled them together in a warming embrace, wrapping his arms around Alec's waist as he dug his nose into the boy's hair. It took the other a few moments to return back from being a piece of stiff cardboard and actually melt into the loving embrace. He threw his arms around Magnus' neck and pressed his face into his chest, sniffing in the aroma that was distinctive and could only belong to his warlock.

Standing there, they didn't move from their hold, even when Alec started to spill every thought from his mind. "I-I love you so much, and... You're perfect. But me? I'm….I'm…not."

It was uncharacteristic of him, being a strongly built Shadowhunter, trained to keep close every emotion until it was wiped away completely. But Magnus knew that this was on his mind for a while. Alec continued, "I just wanted to be perfect, just for the little t-time…" He couldn't finish the sentence, nevertheless Magnus knew exactly the rest of the sentence. _"…just for the little time we have together." _

"Don't think about that, baby, you are perfect. In every way, you most definitely are."

Alec pulled back, breaking away from their hold. He stared down Magnus will cooling eyes. "Is that way you always say you want to give me a make over? Change my wardrobe? Throw away these…pathetic sweaters?" He started to pull at a string of the said sweater, it unraveling more at the hems just to prove that Alec had a point.

Magnus' eyes widened and held Alec's hand so he could stop destroying his beloved article of clothing. "Baby, you wouldn't be you without your sweaters, or your 'just rolled out of bed' head. Sure, I say these things, and threaten to throw you into a delectable pair of skinny jeans, but at the end of the day- you aren't a skinny jeans guy or a prancing diva like me. I love who you are, that's why I'm with you. Because I love you."

"Because of fashion sense?"

Magnus chuckled and kissed Alec' knuckles. His smile reached his eyes and he reached over to mess up Alec' black hair even more. He found it more attractive the messier it got. A playful gleam started to make its presence known in those surreal blue eyes.

"No, silly. You're fashion sense is horrendous! But it's perfect for you. I may be a cheerleader for make up and over the top fashion statements, but that's me. You're perfection without a bottle or sparkles, or a buki brush."

Alec's nose wrinkled. "Buki brush?"

Magnus laughed and nuzzled the boy, nose to nose. "Oh, Alexander, you're too freaking adorable sometimes."

Blue eyes rolled as Alec dislodged from the embrace scowling, only earning more laughter from his lover. Magnus knew very well that Alexander Lightwood hated being called adorable; he was a Shadowhunter after all and the last thing teenaged Shadowhunters wanted was to be called adorable. Adorable are babies, not macho male demon hunters.

Muttering, he walked away passed the bathroom into the bedroom muttering to himself, "I'll show you freaking adorable-"

Magnus smirked before quickly following his perfect boyfriend. But as he passed the bathroom, he couldn't help but to spare it a glance, wondering what could have spawned such outburst or why Alec had to ask confirmation of his love.

Magnus promised himself that he would show Alec just how much he did really feel for the teen, and would make him forget any doubt or insecurity he ever had. He promised this to himself just before he locked the door to their bedroom and pounced.

Then, he remembered just how tired he was.

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><p><em>Thanks again for reading! Please Please Please let me know how you liked it in a review! <em>

_Happy writing, _

_-Dani _


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